Hello.

So for  awhile I have been doing website projects where usually I get a deposit at the start and the remainder after the site is launched. This has worked fine most of the time with my clients paying a few days after the launch. However I just had a client who gave us the go ahead to launch their site but then never paid their final invoice.  I managed to get in contact with them and they promised to pay that day. They didn't. They then started screening my calls, not replying to emails, DMs txts etc.

I was getting ready to begin the process of suspending their site when they finally paid after weeks and weeks of trying to get out of it.

I'm now thinking of now not launching peoples websites until they pay the full amount. How many of you do this? and is this the best way to go?

Get the money first. And have milestones as well so that the final payment is a fraction of the total.

If the client is new I send final invoice before launch with a terms of payment which essentially says "live on payment". That said, if it's a client I have built up trust (e.g. invoices paid inside 2 days and been working with them for 5+ years) then I make make flexible exceptions. An example one time I knew the main boss who pays the bills was on holiday for 2 weeks so i launched the work knowing I'd get paid the day he gets back which he thanked me for not holding up their campaign.

1 minute ago, rallport said:

Situations like that are just about ok, but I'd still try to avoid them personally. However, if you'd been getting your calls screened and had no contact from the client for weeks after launch, I'm sure it'd be a different story.

Yep was simply how I do things. Figured "just had a client" in the op meant the client was new and not one they had been working with for years so this would be a pay me and it goes live invoice.

My exception client was one I have been working with since 2004 and currently working on their fourth website overhaul. This client has never messed me about in all our time working together, discussed and set max spend caps for his marketing team sending me work before I need to bother him with how much we're looking at.

Building up a relationship in my mind is the best way to customer retention. Sure I have clients I wouldn't even lend a pound to, they still live in the money up front world as we both know they are a liability paying on time.

I've had the same grace extended by my local garage, a few years back I was on a contract in India when my car needed an mot and some work doing. Problem was my card got locked by the bank. I've used this garage for years and the guy who runs it said simply said to my wife don't worry, I can settle up when I get back. He could have said "you get your car back when I get paid", but I've been going there years and and probably know most the mechanics. Now my respect for the garage is higher than ever, one loyal customer who won't go anywhere.

6 hours ago, rallport said:

Now they have decided to pay for something they have been using for weeks, take a moment to reflect. You've most likely been thinking about the payment, you've wasted your own time chasing the payment, maybe got as little stressed/worried. Ultimately it's cost you time and money. You've lost money on the project unfortunately.

Not making a site live until payment has been made is run of the mill, bog standard stuff, done for very good reasons.

If I was in your position, I'd be calling the client to understand why they screened your calls and paid weeks late. Based on their answer I'd then make a decision about working with them again.

Yeah it's something I never had an issue with people delaying payment but I can totally see the issue with it now. I'll be be changing that with my payment structure from now on. I think I've always been a bit hesitant with certain things with the contract or payments due to what clients may think. Which is kind of dumb. But yeah it did cause me unnecessary stress and I hate chasing people up as it's a time waster.

I'm not exactly 100% sure why they screened my calls. Halfway through the job they started delivering poor quality and minimal content. I went back to discuss with them amending the content to help the overall site and gave suggestions. After that they went MIA for a week or so. I pursued them about it and pushed for it as the project was overdue and they were slowing things up. Their response was to get passive aggressive and dismissive. I tried to communicate with them the need for a certain quality of content as well as keeping things on schedule, they continued to be passive aggressive and would give me few word replies.

I decided just to finish the job with what they had provided, moved on and get paid. Once they saw the final product they said they really liked it and to go ahead with the launch and their attitude changed. After launch and invoices were sent is when I had to start chasing them up. When I first spoke to them on the phone they were apologetic and "been really busy" "will pay today" excuses and their attitude was friendly and I thought they'd had adjusted their attitude. However after that is when all the call screening, no replies had started. Fortunately I had not given her any logins, email login etc so she had no power to steal the site. Possibly they thought if they'd ignored for long enough, I'd give up and not worry about it.  But to be honest I was ready to give them a one week warning before suspending the site and possibly reusing the design for something else.

As for working with them again, I don't want to. The way they've acted plus the way I see them act on social media (petty dramas) isn't worth the energy. At most I'll continue to host their site and do paid updates but I won't work with them on another project. The way they promote their business makes me think the business may not be successful and is not something I would want to get involved with. I have clients who are nice and are good to work with who I'll give my energy too. This person is now just someone I've had to deal with and I'll be moving on now I think.